Kennedy (Buffyverse)
as Kennedy]] "This might have escaped your keen notice but I'm kind of a brat. I've always sort of gotten my own way... so you're going to make it through this no matter how dark it gets. Because now, you're my way." -Kennedy to Willow Rosenberg, "Chosen" Kennedy is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Portrayed by Iyari Limon, the character was introduced in the final season of the series and goes on to appear in the comic book series Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, which continues the story of the television series. Kennedy is introduced as a "potential Slayer" - one of many girls who might become endowed with supernatural abilities, destined to battle evil creatures such as vampires and demons, like protagonist Buffy Summers. Distinctly, Kennedy is also a love interest for the character of Willow; Kennedy is an out lesbian with an assertive personality, which is intended to contrast with the timid character of Willow's deceased girlfriend Tara. In the series finale of Buffy, Willow magically activates the potential in all girls like Kennedy to become full-fledged Slayers like Buffy. Biography Early life Kennedy came from a wealthy New York family with a summer home in the Hamptons and has at least one sibling, a half-sister. An out-of-the-closet lesbian, Kennedy claimed she knew about her sexuality since the age of five after watching Gone with the Wind and wanting to "sweep Scarlet off her feet". At some point in her life, Kennedy was identified as a Potential Slayer. Sunnydale In 2002, the entity known as the First Evil began tracking down and killing Potential Slayers in an effort to destroy the Slayer line. Kennedy was one of the first three Potential Slayers to arrive in Sunnydale seeking protection with the current Slayer, Buffy Summers. She met and began aggressively pursuing a relationship with Buffy's friend Willow Rosenberg, whose longtime lover Tara Maclay had only recently been murdered. Willow was reluctant to enter into a new relationship, and upon her and Kennedy's first kiss, her guilt manifested physically when she transformed into Tara's killer, Warren Mears, whom Willow had murdered in vengeance. Kennedy helped Willow overcome her guilt of betraying Tara's memory by helping her move on and break the hex. Kennedy and Willow became lovers, with Kennedy acting as an anchor to keep Willow sane when doing powerful magic. Kennedy fought alongside Buffy and the other Potentials in the final battle against the First's army of Turok-Han. In this battle, Willow activates every Potential around the world, including Kennedy, causing her to become a Slayer. "I could get used to this." -Kennedy after being activated as a Slayer, "Chosen" As a Slayer Following the battle with the First, Andrew Wells claimed that Kennedy and Willow continued to be a couple and were then living in Brazil together. At some point, Kennedy suffered a month-long mystical death and she and Willow started taking their relationship more slowly ("The Long Way Home"). She confessed to Willow her concerns that Willow was keeping her away from her friends due to shame, which prompted Willow to reveal that she blamed herself for Tara's death by keeping her close to Buffy and therefore danger. Willow then states that she refuses to let that happen to Kennedy ("A Beautiful Sunset"). She and Willow were later reunited in New York, where she expressed protectiveness of Willow to Buffy having heard of Buffy's lesbian encounter with Satsu ("Time of Your Life"). Kennedy later travelled to Tokyo to give new squad leader Satsu a performance evaluation. Satsu, a lesbian, had recently shared a one-night-stand with Buffy, who was straight. Kennedy wished to support Satsu on her situation and help her to move on from Buffy. Personality Outspoken, confident, and never one to shy away from confrontation, Kennedy made her presence known by both aggressively pursuing her attraction to Willow, and coming to verbal blows with Buffy several times. Continually disagreeing with Buffy's choices, she played an instrumental part in the argument which ended with Buffy's brief ejection from the Summers' residence and the Scooby Gang in the episode "Empty Places." However, Kennedy later admitted her somewhat rash actions in "Chosen," unashamedly pointing out she was a "brat." Unlike the other Potential Slayers, Kennedy sometimes became involved with actions and events of core Scoobies (most notably in the episode "Get It Done"). In the same episode, Kennedy is seen serving as a martial arts instructor to other Potentials, showing and enjoying a "drill sergeant" attitude, echoing Gunnery Sergeant Hartman of Full Metal Jacket and Sergeant Foley of An Officer and a Gentleman: like them, she concurred in causing the suicide of the weakest of the "recruits" (in this case, Chloe, who was called "maggot") when the First Evil manipulated the feelings of weakness Kennedy caused. Kennedy also chose to dismiss her other responsibilities in the episode "The Killer in Me," opting to feign illness to avoid joining Vi, Rona, and several other potentials on a vision quest to converse with the spirit of the First Slayer, instead choosing to take the opportunity to further pursue her relationship with Willow. Notes and trivia *According to the shooting script for Bring on the Night, Kennedy is nineteen, and the oldest of the potentials to arrive at that time, though this informaton is never given on-screen, Kennedy does reference herself as being the oldest of the potentials. *Online critic Amy Amatangelo's readers gave Kennedy the "Can We Vote Them Off the TV Island?" award for the "Most Annoying Character" in the 2002-2003 television season, narrowly beating Connor from the Angel series.http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,276|81936|1|,00.html Phi-Phenomenon, a site that provides statistical analysis of online Buffyverse opinion, has demonstrated that the number of lines of Kennedy dialogue is a statistical predictor of an episode's unpopularity, both among committed Buffy fans and among those who by this time were disenchanted with the show.http://www.phi-phenomenon.org/buffy/tastes/characters Gallery Image:KennedyABH.jpg|Kennedy in "Anywhere But Here". Image:KennedySwell.jpg|Kennedy in "Swell". Appearances in Buffyverse Kennedy has appeared in 21 canonical Buffyverse appearances ;Buffy the Vampire Slayer :Kennedy appeared as a supporting character in 13 episodes: *Season 7 (2002-2003)- "Bring on the Night"; "Showtime"; "Potential"; "The Killer in Me"; "First Date"; "Get It Done"; "Storyteller"; "Lies My Parents Told Me"; "Dirty Girls"; "Empty Places"; "Touched" ; "End of Days"; "Chosen" ;Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight : Kennedy has appeared in 8 issues thus far: *"Anywhere but Here" (in a flashback) *"Time of Your Life, Parts I-IV". *"Predators and Prey, Part II" ("Swell")" *"Retreat, Part I & III" See also *List of women warriors in folklore, literature, and popular culture References External links * * Buffy Wikia Kennedy entry * Vyra.net * Buffyquotes.co.uk Kennedy Category:Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters Category:Buffyverse Slayers Category:LGBT characters in comics Category:Fictional lesbians Category:Fictional vampire hunters Category:Fictional women soldiers and warriors Category:Fictional businesspeople Category:Fictional bodyguards Category:Fictional characters from New York City Category:Fictional characters introduced in 2002